Samsung to introduce flexible displays in devices next year

Samsung announced that it plans to roll out gadgets with flexible displays as …

Samsung’s 2012 lineup of gadgets will include ones with flexible screens, the company announced during an investor call today. The company’s smartphones will likely get them first, possibly in the first half of the year.

Samsung isn’t the first company to pursue flexible gadget parts, as Sony showed a flexible display in 2009 at the Consumer Electronics Show. But Samsung may be the first major device manufacturer to get them to market, and with its new dominant market position, flexible displays stand to get a wide release.

The company’s pursuit of flexing screens stems from its purchase of Liquivista, a company that uses electrowetting technology to make screens that flex, but are still bright and low power. During the call, Robert Yi, vice president of investor relations, said that the company plans to introduce the displays “sometime in 2012, hopefully the earlier part. The application will probably start from the handset side.” Tablets and other devices will get the technology later.

On the one hand, flexible displays mean that dropping your phone or tablet directly onto their screens may no longer be the disaster it currently is. However, Samsung has said little about how the quality of the displays will compare to the AMOLED screens the company usually favors in its higher-end devices, or even the oft-denigrated PenTile displays.The company also didn’t indicate whether the displays will only appear in all its devices, or only a subset.

Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston

I mean... that's pretty cool that they can make a flexible screen, but I don't get it. Why would I (or anyone) want this?

Flip touchscreen phone?

Again... I don't really understand why anyone would want that. How is that better than what we already have? I mean, it'd be nice to have a flexible screen so the front would be less prone to cracking, but other than that I don't really see how this is useful.

Benefit list:….…Screen is lighter if it doesn’t have a slab of Gorilla Glass in front of it? Issue, you’ll need to be able to retract the screen inside something to put it in your pocket, which puts bulk and weight savings in question.….Might get you laid if the rest of the phone’s look doesn’t suck ass.….….….That’s all I have at the moment.

Imagine some sort of monitor that rolls up like a projector screen, allowing you to transport it in a more compact form factor. Maybe you hook it up to your phone and watch videos on a plane or train, or maybe you hook it up to your PSP and play on a bigger screen when you're away from home.

To be fair, it'll be awesome if Apple can do something awesome with it. It's mere existence will not be awesome, just as with many other techs.

Exactly. It's meh when Samsung announces it. But when someone in a black turtleneck and jeans holds it between 2 fingers on stage to thunderous applause, it's revolutionary. You'll pre-order it instantly.

To be fair, it'll be awesome if Apple can do something awesome with it. It's mere existence will not be awesome, just as with many other techs.

Exactly. It's meh when Samsung announces it. But when someone in a black turtleneck and jeans holds it between 2 fingers on stage to thunderous applause, it's revolutionary. You'll pre-order it instantly.

I don't know anyone who would preorder anything instantly because someone in a black turtleneck and jeans holds it between 2 fingers on stage to thunderous applause.

Everyone I know would stand in line all night in front of the Apple store.

To be fair, it'll be awesome if Apple can do something awesome with it. It's mere existence will not be awesome, just as with many other techs.

Exactly. It's meh when Samsung announces it. But when someone in a black turtleneck and jeans holds it between 2 fingers on stage to thunderous applause, it's revolutionary. You'll pre-order it instantly.

Which is, of course, incredibly ironic as Samsung did not invent this technology at all and yet you're doing the exact same thing for them.

I'm having trouble with the use case for this as well. It's cool but I can't see how it would make using my phone a better experience.

Now if you could make TV sized sheets of this it would be great for situations where you need to set up large screens at temporary locations or even to easily move your TV around your house.

Bingo. A flexible display in and of itself is not really that useful, because you'd still need the rest of the device components to be attached to it. I'll be impressed when the flexible monitor *is* the device, and I can roll it up, or stick it in my wallet next to my credit card, or whatever. The only advantage I can see to this currently is what others have mentioned, which is that it might be possible to make a device with a screen that is resilient to being dropped or whatever.

So in a smartphone this would prevent damage when you break the screen... assuming the screen breaks within a tolerance and the fragments don't scratch the material. Seems like wrist mounted displays or other non traditional locations would fit better with this.

I mean... that's pretty cool that they can make a flexible screen, but I don't get it. Why would I (or anyone) want this?

It's probably lighter, thinner, and more resilient. But if people are still skeptical, just wait until Apple unveils something using it and you'll think it's awesome (not directed at you).

It's true, Apple will be the only one who can make it work. It reminds me when Microsoft started demoes of Longhorn graphics, and they had windows spinning all over the screen. Not a fucking clue what to do with all that power. Of course not long later, Apple introduced Exposé.

When I saw this, my first thought was a smaller profile smartphone with a flexible screen one could pull out like a window blind, then retract. I could see that being useful.

The curve the demo person is putting on that screen suggests that right now the minimum radius you can curl the screen into is akin to those very window shades, probably even larger. That might work for a quarterback playlist style bracelet but likely not what you have in mind.

However, Samsung has said little about how the quality of the displays will compare to the AMOLED screens the company usually favors in its higher-end devices, or even the oft-denigrated PenTile displays.

Maybe I'm confused, but aren't all of their AMOLED screens using PenTile, due to the limitations of the AMOLED pixel technology? This makes it sound like they're two different things. Their Super AMOLED Plus screens do *not* use PenTile, but I think everything else does.

No, because screen doesn't even flex to 90 degrees. No one is going to be rolling up phones or laptops with this. It bends, it doesn't do whatever you want with it. While it's a neat start and COULD turn into something more useful down the road, I don't see a practical application for this right now.

To be fair, it'll be awesome if Apple can do something awesome with it. It's mere existence will not be awesome, just as with many other techs.

Exactly. It's meh when Samsung announces it. But when someone in a black turtleneck and jeans holds it between 2 fingers on stage to thunderous applause, it's revolutionary. You'll pre-order it instantly.

No, not exactly. You'll note that Vault Dweller clearly stated that it would be awesome IF Apple can do something awesome with it. Not that it would be awesome BECAUSE Apple has done something with it. Loosen up the anti-Apple fanboi goggles a bit.

On the technology itself, I didn't see it listed anywhere, but does it permit a touchscreen display? The uses would certainly be limited if you still needed a separate input method.

I really don't see it as a useful addition to a smartphone. Perhaps if it was an addition to the smartphone's regular touchscreen but then I think it would be awkward to have one touchscreen and one larger not touchscreen for use on special occasions.

I definitely do think it could be interesting for laptops or larger uses.

However, Samsung has said little about how the quality of the displays will compare to the AMOLED screens the company usually favors in its higher-end devices, or even the oft-denigrated PenTile displays.

Maybe I'm confused, but aren't all of their AMOLED screens using PenTile, due to the limitations of the AMOLED pixel technology? This makes it sound like they're two different things.

Just having a phone I could stuff in my back pocket and not worry about cracking it into pieces would great! Think about having a phone with give, that instead of breaking or cracking, just flexed and returned to it's regular shape.

I mean... that's pretty cool that they can make a flexible screen, but I don't get it. Why would I (or anyone) want this?

It's probably lighter, thinner, and more resilient. But if people are still skeptical, just wait until Apple unveils something using it and you'll think it's awesome (not directed at you).

The reason people are skeptical is they don't understand "Why" yet. Without the why, its just a gimmick, a checkbox in a meaningless list of specs. Guess which phones have a FLEXIBLE DISPLAY? Samsung CHECK! Apple, Motorola, Nokia, HTC, RIM? Nada!

Samsung needs to demonstrate why you would need a flexible display in its products and how it would make your life better / easier / more enjoyable. The portability and durability comes to mind, but just saying that doesn't connect with consumers.

The reason people are skeptical is they don't understand "Why" yet. Without the why, its just a gimmick, a checkbox in a meaningless list of specs. Guess which phones have a FLEXIBLE DISPLAY? Samsung CHECK! Apple, Motorola, Nokia, HTC, RIM? Nada!

Samsung needs to demonstrate why you would need a flexible display in its products and how it would make your life better / easier / more enjoyable. The portability and durability comes to mind, but just saying that doesn't connect with consumers.

This and exactly this. Just because something exists/can be created doesn't mean I should use it. I could see a ton of uses for this, but almost none of them involve phones.

It reminds me when Microsoft started demoes of Longhorn graphics, and they had windows spinning all over the screen. Not a fucking clue what to do with all that power. Of course not long later, Apple introduced Exposé.

Flexible screens have the potential to be awesome. You just need to wipe the idea of a the slab phone from your head. To me, the biggest win for a flexible screen is in tablet computing. Imagine if instead of being a slab, it is a baton. You have something that looks like a tube the width of a normal tablet, and in unrolls into a full sized 10 to 15 inch tablet. It would be vastly easier to carry around if nothing else.

I'm not sure if the tech is there yet, but phones could be exciting too. Imagine if instead of having a normal phone, it looks like two rolled up scrolls. You open it by pulling the scrolls apart, and a screen unfurls between them and locks in place when it is fully open. It makes the phone small, protects the screen, and you could do something very nifty like make it so that when it is rolled up you can still answer the phone. You could have what amounts to a 7" tablet that is size of a flip phone when not in tablet mode.

In all seriousness, this lets us totally redesign devices so that they don't need to be rectangles. They still need to be a rectangle when fully opened, but when toting them around they could be in shapes that are much easier on your pocket.

I mean... that's pretty cool that they can make a flexible screen, but I don't get it. Why would I (or anyone) want this?

It's probably lighter, thinner, and more resilient. But if people are still skeptical, just wait until Apple unveils something using it and you'll think it's awesome (not directed at you).

The reason people are skeptical is they don't understand "Why" yet. Without the why, its just a gimmick, a checkbox in a meaningless list of specs. Guess which phones have a FLEXIBLE DISPLAY? Samsung CHECK! Apple, Motorola, Nokia, HTC, RIM? Nada!

Samsung needs to demonstrate why you would need a flexible display in its products and how it would make your life better / easier / more enjoyable. The portability and durability comes to mind, but just saying that doesn't connect with consumers.

Although I understand flexibility has value for portability and possibly durability, I can't help but think this technology won't play very well with touchscreen input. Imagine trying to double-tap a screen that wiggles around on you. Or what if you want to tilt your phones sideways to play a racing game? There's a reason why touchscreen phones have developed into these evenly-balanced monoliths.

Maybe you could build a phone with two even halves that telescope apart, rolling out the screen in between them along with a rigid frame on either side of it to maintain structure. The phone would have to be thicker to accommodate as much battery as a monolith, but you'd save on height in the phone's collapsed state.